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Piracy of yesterday and today Tuesday, August 19 2008

Last week's Mythbusters episode was a pirate special. Thanks to movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, most people know what a pirate is, or at least the glamorized, movie version of a pirate. With the help of Wikipedia and Encyclopedia.com we will explore the history of piracy then talk a little about modern piracy, yep it still happens.

Piracy is a robbery committed at sea, or sometimes on the shore, without a commission from a sovereign nation. Robbery with sovereign commission is privateering, which was much more common during periods of exploration.

The earliest documented instances of piracy are the exploits of the Sea Peoples who threatened the Aegean and Mediterranean in the 13th century BC. The island of Lemnos long resisted Greek influence and remained a haven for Thracian pirates. By the 1st century BC, there were pirate states all along the Anatolian coast, threatening the commerce of the Roman Empire.

On one voyage across the Aegean Sea in 75 BC, Julius Caesar was kidnapped by Cilician pirates and held prisoner. He maintained an attitude of superiority throughout his captivity. When the pirates decided to demand a ransom of twenty talents of gold, Caesar is said to have insisted that he was worth at least fifty, so the pirates raised the ransom to fifty talents. After the ransom was paid, Caesar raised a fleet, pursued and captured the pirates, and imprisoned them. The Senate finally invested Pompey with powers to deal with piracy in 67 BC, and after three months of naval warfare managed to suppress the threat.

Among some of the most famous ancient pirateering peoples were the Illyrians, in the third century, populating the western Balkan peninsula. Constantly raiding the Adriatic Sea, the Illyrians had many conflicts with the Roman Republic. It was not until 68 BC that the Romans finally conquered Illyria and made it a province, ending their threat.

The widely known and far reaching pirates in medieval Europe were the Vikings, warriors and looters from Scandinavia. They raided the coasts, rivers and inland cities of all Western Europe as far as Seville. Vikings even attacked coasts of North Africa and Italy. They also plundered all the coasts of the Baltic Sea, ascending the rivers of Eastern Europe as far as the Black Sea and Persia. The lack of centralized powers all over Europe during the Middle Ages allowed pirates to roam uncheck all over the continent.

After the Slavic invasions of the Balkan peninsula in the 5th and 6th centuries, a Slavic tribe settled the land of Pagania between Dalmatia and Zachlumia in the first half of the 7th century. These Slavs revived the old Illyrian piratical habits and often raided the Adriatic Sea. By 642 they invaded southern Italy and assaulted Siponte in Benevento. Their raids in the Adriatic increased rapidly, until the whole Sea was no longer safe for travel.

The "Narentines," as they were called, took more liberties in their raiding quests while the Venetian Navy was abroad, as when it was campaigning in Sicilian waters in 827-82. As soon as the Venetian fleet would return to the Adriatic, the Narentines temporarily abandoned their habits again, even signing a Treaty in Venice and baptizing their Slavic pagan leader into Christianity. In 834 or 835 they broke the treaty and again raided Venetian traders returning from Benevento, and all of Venice's military attempts to punish the Marians in 839 and 840 failed. In 846 the Narentines broke through to Venice itself and raided its lagoon city of Kaorle. In the middle of March of 870 they kidnapped the Roman Bishop's emissaries that were returning from the Ecclesiastical Council in Constantinople. This caused a Byzantine military action against them that finally brought Christianity to them.

After the Arab raids on the Adriatic coast around 872 and the retreat of the Imperial Navy, the Narentines restored their raids of Venetian waters, causing new conflicts with the Italians in 887-888. The Narentine piracy traditions were cherished even while they were in Serbia, serving as the finest Serb warriors. The Venetians unsuccessfully continued to fight them throughout the 10th-11th centuries.

In 937, Irish pirates sided with the Scots, Vikings, Picts, and Welsh in their invasion of England, but the Athelstans drove them back.

In 12th century the coasts of west Scandinavia were plundered by Slavic pirates from the southwest coast of Baltic Sea.

H Thomas Milhorn mentions a certain Englishman named William Maurice, convicted of piracy in 1241, as the first person known to have been hanged, drawn and quartered, which would indicate that the then-ruling King Henry III took an especially severe view of this crime.

As early as Byzantine times, the Maniots - one of Greece's toughest populations - were known as pirates. The Maniots considered piracy as a legitimate response to the fact that their land was poor and it became their main source of income. The main victims of Maniot pirates were the Ottomans but the Maniots also targeted ships of European countries.

The Haida and Tlingit tribes, who lived along the coast of southern Alaska and on islands in northwest British Columbia, were traditionally known as fierce warriors, pirates and slave-traders, raiding as far south as California.

Since the 14th century the Deccan (Southern Peninsular region of India) was divided into two entities - on the one side stood the Muslim-ruled Bahmani Sultanate, and on the other stood the Hindu kings rallied around the Vijayanagara Empire. Continuous wars demanded frequent resupplies of fresh horses, which were imported through sea routes from Persia and Africa. This trade was subjected to frequent raids by thriving bands of pirates based in the coastal cities of Western India.

During the 16th century there was frequent European piracy against Mughal Indian vessels, especially those en route to Mecca for hajj. The situation came to a head, when the Portuguese attacked and captured the vessel Rahimi which belonged to Mariam Zamani the Mughal queen.

In the 18th century, the famous Maratha privateer Kanhoji Angre ruled the seas between Mumbai and Goa. The Marathas attacked British shipping and insisted that East India Company ships pay taxes if sailing through their waters.

The most famous pirate utopia is that of Captain Misson and his pirate crew, who founded free colony of Libertatia in northern Madagascar in the late 17th century. In 1694, it was destroyed in a surprise attack by the island natives.

The southern coast of the Persian Gulf became known as the Pirate Coast as raiders based there harassed foreign shipping. Early British expeditions to protect the Indian Ocean trade from raiders led to campaigns against that headquarters and other harbors along the coast in 1819.

From the 13th century, Japan based Wokou made their debut in East Asia, initiating invasions that would persist for 300 years.

Piracy in South East Asia began with the retreating Mongol Yuan fleet after the betrayal by their Javanese allies. They preferred the junk, a ship using a more robust sail layout. Marooned navy officers, consisting mostly of Cantonese and Hokkien tribesmen, set up their small gangs near river estuaries, mainly to protect themselves. They recruited locals as common foot-soldiers known to set up their fortresses. They utilized their well trained pugilists, as well as marine and navigation skills, mostly along Sumatran and Javanese estuaries. Their strength and ferocity coincided with the impending trade growth of the maritime silk and spice routes.

The most powerful pirate fleets of East Asia were those of Chinese pirates during the mid-Qing dynasty. Pirate fleets grew increasingly powerful throughout the early 19th century. The effects large-scale piracy had on the Chinese economy were immense. They preyed on China’s junk trade and were a vital artery of Chinese commerce. Pirate fleets exercised hegemony over villages on the coast, collecting revenue by exacting tribute and running extortion rackets.

In 1802, Zheng Yi inherited the fleet of his cousin, captain Zheng Qi, whose death provided Zheng Yi with considerably more influence in the world of piracy. Zheng Yi and his wife, Zheng Yi Sao then formed a pirate coalition that, by 1804, consisted of over ten thousand men. Their military might alone was sufficient to combat the Qing navy. However, a combination of famine, Qing naval opposition, and internal rifts crippled piracy in China around the 1820s.

The Bugi sailors of South Sulawesi were infamous as pirates who used to range as far west as Singapore and as far north as the Philippines in search of targets. The Orang laut pirates controlled shipping in the Straits of Malacca and the waters around Singapore and the Malay and Sea Dayak pirates preyed on maritime shipping in the waters between Singapore and Hong Kong from their haven in Borneo.

One example of a pirate republic in Europe from the 16th through the 18th century was Zaporizhian Sich. Situated in the remote Steppe, it was populated with Ukrainian peasants that had run away from their feudal masters, outlaws of every sort - destitute gentry, run-away slaves from Turkish galleys and others. The remoteness of the place and the rapids at the Dnepr river effectively guarded them from invasions. The main target of the inhabitants of Zaporizhian Sich who called themselves “Cossacks” were rich settlements at the Black Sea shores of Ottoman Empire and Crimean Khanate. By 1615 and 1625, Zaporozhian Cossacks had even managed to raze townships on the outskirts of Istanbul, forcing the Ottoman Sultan to flee his palace.

The Barbary pirates were pirates and privateers that operated from North African, called the Barbary coast, ports of Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, Salé and ports in Morocco. They interfered with shipping in the western Mediterranean Sea from the time of the Crusades as well as on ships on their way to Asia around Africa until the early 19th century.

The coastal villages and towns of Italy, Spain and Mediterranean islands were frequently attacked by them and long stretches of the Italian and Spanish coasts were almost completely abandoned by inhabitants. After 1600 Barbary pirates occasionally entered the Atlantic and struck as far north as Iceland . According to Robert Davis between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves in North Africa and Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 19th centuries.

The most famous corsairs were the Ottoman Hayreddin and his older brother Barbarossa (Redbeard), Turgut Reis (known as Dragut in the West), Kurtoglu (known as Curtogoli in the West), Kemal Reis, Salih Reis and Koca Murat Reis. A few Barbary pirates, such as Jan Janszoon and John Ward, were renegade Christians who had converted to Islam.

In 1523, Jean Fleury seized two ships carrying Aztec treasures from Mexico to Spain. The great or classic era of piracy, also the most well publicized in movies, in the Caribbean extends from around 1560 up until the mid 1720s. The period during which pirates were most successful was from 1700 until the 1730s.

Many pirates came to the Caribbean after the end of the War of the Spanish Succession. Many people stayed in the Caribbean and became pirates shortly after that. Others, the buccaneers, arrived in the mid-to-late 17th century and made attempts at earning a living by farming and hunting on Hispaniola and nearby island. Pressed by Spanish raids and possibly failure of their means of making a living, they turned to a more lucrative occupation.

Caribbean piracy arose out of the conflicts over trade and colonization among the rival European powers of the time, including England, Spain, Dutch United Provinces, Portuguese Empire and France - most of these pirates were of English, Dutch and French origin. Because Spain controlled most of the Caribbean, many of the attacked cities and ships belonged to the Spanish Empire and along the East coast of America and the West coast of Africa. Some of the best-known pirate bases were New Providence, in the Bahamas from 1715 to 1725, Tortuga established in the 1640s and Port Royal after 1655. Among the most famous Caribbean pirates are Edward Teach or "Blackbeard" and Henry Morgan.

Now that you know a little about the history of piracy, we can explore modern pirates. Many people are unaware of the vast amount of piracy that still takes place in the world, because it doesn't affect them directly. However, seaborne piracy against transport vessels remains a significant issue. The estimated worldwide losses of cargo range from $13 to $16 billion U.S. per year, particularly in the waters between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, off the Somali coast, and also in the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, which are used by over 50,000 commercial ships a year.

A recent surge in piracy off the Somali coast spurred a multi-national effort led by the United States to patrol the waters near the Horn of Africa to combat piracy. While boats off the coasts of North Africa, Iran and the Mediterranean Sea are still assailed by pirates, the Royal Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard have nearly eradicated piracy in U.S. waters and in the Caribbean Sea.

Modern pirates favor small boats and take advantage of the small crew numbers on modern cargo vessels. They also use large vessels to supply the smaller attack/boarding vessels. Modern pirates can be successful because a large amount of international commerce occurs via shipping. For commercial reasons, many cargo ships move through narrow bodies of water, such as canals, making them vulnerable to be overtaken and boarded by small motorboats.

Other active areas include the South China Sea and the Niger Delta. As usage increases, many of these ships have to lower cruising speeds to allow for navigation and traffic control, making them prime targets.

Pirates often operate in regions of developing or struggling countries which have smaller navys and large trade routes. Pirates sometimes evade capture by sailing into waters controlled by their pursuer's enemies. With the end of the Cold War, navies have decreased size and patrols, but trade has increased.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) maintains statistics regarding pirate attacks dating back to 1995. Their records indicate hostage-taking overwhelmingly dominates the types of violence against seafarers. In 2006, there were 239 attacks, 77 crew members were kidnapped and 188 taken hostage - only 15 of the pirate attacks resulted in murder. In 2007 the attacks rose to 263 attacks.

In some cases, modern pirates are not interested in the cargo and are mainly interested in taking the personal belongings of the crew and the contents of the ship's safe, which might contain large amounts of cash needed for payroll and port fees. In other cases, the pirates force the crew off the ship and then sail it to a port to be repainted and given a new identity through false papers.

Modern piracy can also take place in conditions of political unrest. For example, following the US withdrawal from Vietnam, Thai piracy was aimed at the many Vietnamese who took to boats to escape. Further, following the disintegration of the government of Somalia, warlords in the region have attacked ships delivering UN food aid.

Reports of piracy attacks have been declining worldwide since 2004, but seems to have bottomed out in 2007. Figures reported by the International Maritime Bureau indicate incident reporting fell for the third year in a row in 2006.

Some hotspots remain, including Indonesia, still the world’s most dangerous piracy region, Nigeria, Somalia, and the ports of Chittagong in Bangladesh and Santos in Brazil, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) 2006 Annual Report.

The recent downward trend in piracy worldwide follows a period when attacks tripled between 1993 and 2003. The first half of 2003 was the worst 6-month period on record, with 234 pirate attacks, 16 deaths, and 52 people injured worldwide.

Authorities estimate that only between 50% to as low as 10% of pirate attacks are actually reported, to avoid increases in insurance premiums.

Piracy is of note in international law as it is commonly held to represent the earliest invocation of the concept of universal jurisdiction. The crime of piracy is considered a breach of the conventional peremptory international norm that states must uphold. Those committing thefts on the high seas, inhibiting trade, and endangering maritime communication are considered by sovereign states to be enemies of humanity.

Since piracy often takes place outside the territorial waters of any state, the prosecution of pirates by sovereign states represents a complex legal situation. The prosecution of pirates on the high seas contravenes the conventional freedom of the high seas. However, because of universal jurisdiction, action can be taken against pirates without objection from the flag state of the pirate vessel.

Even though Hollywood makes pirates out to be a violent lot, they still glamorize the pirate life. As many people saw in Pirates of the Caribbean and other such films, there is always the few pirates who are an "honest" lot. They don't really want to steal, but when they do it's always from snooty British fellows who are deserving of a good lesson.

In truth, the amount of damage, to persons and finance, is extraordinary. So, enjoy the myths presented by Adam, Jamie, Tory, Grant and Kari, but remember that those are only the fun Hollywood pirates and not the real tyrants of the seas.